Life is a lazy river - no matter where you are. Movies, musicals, mysteries, pop culture, and lots of other great stuff.

Friday, February 03, 2017

Kids and Dolls

Began another gloomy morning with some Backyardigans. Tyrone has to "Follow the Feather" when the Mysterious Lady (Uniqua) insists that it leads to the mythical Flying Polka-Dot Pony. Tasha and Pablo aren't as sure...especially when the trail takes them through a crumbling temple and over a steep mountain.

I dressed the American Girl dolls in pink and/or red outfits for Valentine's Day after lunch. Jessa's wearing the 2014 Sweet Spring Dress and pink wrap shoes with Our Generation stockings. Whitney and Josefina both wear hand-made outfits I bought off eBay - Whitney a pink felt poodle skirt and white blouse (with a pink pearl-trimmed sweater I found at a yard sale) and Molly's Saddle Shoes, Josefina a pretty ruffled Empire-waist dress with a lace wrap. Samantha is in her Talent Show Dress, Molly her plaid School Outfit with white stockings and Samantha's new "meet" Mary Janes, and Felicity herr Laced Jacket and Petticoat.

(By the way, all indications seem to point to Felicity being re-released this year. Her books were just put out in BeForever format, and people have been reporting seeing a new blue meet outfit and underwear for her on eBay. Fine by me. I've been wanting to get Felicity more clothes. Hers are ridiculous on the secondary market.)

I went online for a little while after I finished the dolls. I wanted to sign up for food stamps, which I did, and check my finances. First of all, I forgot that I haven't updated my non-driver's ID in almost 10 years. I haven't needed to. I need to get to Cherry Hill, and fast. Second, I keep forgetting to order checks. I hope they don't take long to come. I need to get my rent next-door.

It was almost 3 before I finally broke for errands...or would have, if my bike hadn't had a flat tire. Again. It was the last straw. I had books and DVDs to return and I had to get to the bank, but I had no desire to spend the rest of the day hiking around Camden County. I finally decided that I needed to eat, and just went around the corner to Common Grounds Coffee House.

I didn't mean to have a nervous breakdown while choosing which quiche I wanted. I'm just feeling incredibly overwhelmed. I don't know how to get a job. You're supposed to tailor your resume to fit the company you want to go after...but what if you don't know which company you want to go after? I have no idea who's hiring writers, and nothing online has helped. I don't even know how to go about getting a writing job. Or, I do, but I don't know where to start. Not a single thing has been going right lately. No matter how hard I try, no matter what I do, I make things worse. Nothing seems to be getting better. I don't know how to talk to anyone about it, especially my family. There's no one like me around here to discuss all this with.

I chatted a little with one of the college baristas, who ate her chili with me. (I may have to try that the next time I end up at Common Grounds.) The manager said she was delivering cakes to Westmont. She'd drop my books and DVDs off at the Haddon Township Library.

Studio LuLoo was open for the first time in ages when I went by there. I got to help the kids cover fabric "band bags" with pieces of fabric and colored fabric marker. Sang and danced along with the music they'd recorded with Sara, the lady in charge of the studio, and a friend of hers who was a professional musician. I cut the fabric into strips, then into pieces for the kids to use. We all had pizza and French fries from Phillies Phatties next-door for dinner.

When I got home, I went online. Worked a bit on writing. Leia's getting the girls settled down. This is an all-girl retreat. Rey mentions that Han only complained a little about letting them go for the weekend. Jess said Poe sulked because he wasn't getting an assignment in the country.

Also made two new Pinterest pages. Sorted the Original Trilogy/Rogue One pages further, giving pins for photos that cross media, movies, or that are about the Star Wars fandom or fan humor its own page. Also created a page for Star Wars collectibles, books, and toys, either ones I actually own, have owned, or would like to, or just ones that inspire me.

Made Cinnamon Refrigerator Cookies for work tomorrow while doing more Backyardigans. "Dragon Express" is a service that uses dragons to send mail to out-of-the-way spots in Norway. Austin and his dragon Windy hope to be able to fly as fast and high as Pablo and his dragon Maverick someday. Austin finally shows Pablo that brains and problem-solving count as much as fancy flying when he has to help his friend out of a maze of icy mirrors to find the mail box in the Ice Castle.

Austin is "The Funnyman Boogeyman," a spook who just wants to make people laugh. Trouble is, Uniqua and Pablo want to catch him, not his act. Can he make these two mini-Ghostbusters crack a smile?

Finished the night with another round of wacky comedy from Pat Proft and the Zucker Brothers. Top Secret! spoofs Elvis musicals, the classic rock of the 50's and 60's, and World War II movies. Nick (Val Kilmer), a rock star, finds himself behind enemy lines in East Germany when he's mistaken for a spy by the head of the underground, who wants him to help her rescue her father. Things are further complicated when her former love reappears. Now he has to figure out how to win the girl, while making his own kind of music in a place where making any music at all can land you in front of a firing squad.

Hot Shots moves the spoofs to a more recent target. Top Gun and other gung-ho 80's action flicks get the raspberry here as Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) tries to prove he has what it takes to return to an elite pilot squadron. He finds himself falling in love with the base psychiatrist (Valeria Gollino), making her boyfriend, a fellow pilot (Cary Elwes), very jealous. Meanwhile, someone is planning on sabotaging the mission, under the nose of the ditzy admiral (Lloyd Bridges) who has had a body part replaced in pretty much every war that ever happened.

While I have fond memories of seeing Hot Shots in the theater, I actually give Top Secret! a slight edge for its fun musical numbers and creative plot. Either way, if you love wacky, joke-a-minute spoofs or Kilmer or Sheen, neither of these are masterpieces, but they have enough good moments to be worth checking out.